Notes: The arc begins between one and two years after Endless Waltz.
Duo POV in this story.

'Thinking'
"Speaking"
************ Time passing or scene change

Author's Notes: This is part of an arc of stories. I don't know for
sure how many stories there will be or how often I'll be posting them. The
length of each story in the arc will vary, anywhere from ficlet to multi-part.
Warnings will vary from story to story as well, as will the genre. Pairings
will probably eventually make their way in, but it will be quite a while
since the first half dozen or so stories are drafted out and there's no
real indication of pairings in them as of yet. Feedback is appreciated.

#################################################

Duo ducked a kick and hopped over a leg-sweep. He'd forgotten just how
hard he had to work when sparring with Heero. Even after several weeks
of sparring with him again, he just couldn't seem to get used to it. Duo
needed every bit of speed and agility he possessed, because if he let Heero
get his hands on him or his arms around him, he was out of business. There
was just no way of breaking that grip. Well, not in a friendly sparring
match, anyway. Even as he thought that, he zigged when he should have zagged
and ended up pinned flat on his back, Heero leaning over him. "Got
me again, dammit!" he exclaimed. "Man, am I ever out of shape..."

Letting him up, Heero smirked slightly and said, "Bet I can still
beat you in a game of one on one, too."

"Oh really," Duo grinned back at him. "Nearest court
is a couple of blocks away. Wanna put that claim to the test?"

"You're on."

When they finally straggled home some time later, both flushed and dripping
sweat, that particular claim remained unsettled. "If those kids hadn't
showed up to use the court, I'd have got you," Duo insisted.

"Duo, we were tied. Even if you got the next basket, I'd
have just tied it back up again," Heero answered.

About to protest, Duo noticed an unfamiliar car parked in front of his
house. Recognizing the people climbing out of the car, he caught
Heero's elbow and dragged him to a halt. "You ready to deal with the
guys?" he asked, suddenly serious. "If not, go around the back
and inside and I'll tell'em to lay off for a while. Otherwise, we'll go
in together. Or if you want, I'll go tell them we'll meet them at a restaurant,
we can both get cleaned up, then meet them there instead of them coming
in." He had a feeling that Heero considered the house a sanctuary
and might not want anyone intruding on that. Meeting the guys on neutral
turf would also leave the option of just getting up and going home if things
got uncomfortable.

"Go together, but arrange the restaurant?" Heero offered hesitantly.

"Sure?"

Sounding somewhat more confident, Heero nodded, "Sure."

"Let's go then," Duo said, draping one arm casually across
Heero's shoulders in a show of silent support.

"So Yuy is here," Wufei said. Disapprovingly, he asked,
"Why not tell us instead of just saying he was okay and we should stop
looking, Maxwell?"

"Because I asked him not to," Heero said, stiffening slightly
under Duo's arm.

"You're not gettin' off to a good start here, Wu-man," Duo
warned. "Let it go. Look, there's a little Chinese place two blocks
down that-a-way," he pointed. "Give us half, three-quarters of
an hour to get cleaned up and we'll meet you there, okay?"

"That sounds like a good idea, Duo," Quatre answered for the
group. "Heero, I'm glad to see you're doing okay."

"Thank you, Quatre," Heero answered in response to a slight
nudge from Duo. "Hello, Trowa," he added a bit belatedly.

"Hello, Heero, Duo," Trowa answered, nodding to each of them.

"We'll see you guys at the restaurant then," Duo said, steering
Heero towards the front door with a chorus of "Fine" ringing in
the background.

"Sure you're okay with this?" Duo asked again once the door
closed. "Wu seems to be in a bit of a snit over something - it could
get a little nasty."

That had sounded decidedly less certain than Duo would have liked. Damn
Wufei and his moods. Probably he'd been a little rougher on Relena than
he'd intended and was feeling guilty about it, leading him to take his own
upset out on someone else. Namely the one he'd done the ranting on behalf
of. 'I swear, it's a miracle we didn't all kill each other before the end
of the war, with all the prickly pride, touchy tempers, and surprisingly
sensitive feelings in this bunch. Hopefully Quat will play peacemaker again
and get Wu settled down before we get there.'

"Right," Duo said, realizing that Heero was actually waiting
for an answer. "But... it doesn't have to be today.
If things get too uncomfortable, just head back here and leave the guys
to me. They showed up without calling first, so I'm not about to invite
them in, 'specially after all that attitude Wu-wu-boy was giving us out
front." As expected, his mangling of Wufei's name had drawn a flicker
of humour to Heero's face. It only lasted an instant, but it was enough
to ease a bit of the tension. "Now - I'll grab my shower first so's
I can work on getting this mop of mine at least partially dry while you
take yours. And if we're late, Wu-man can just kiss my..."

"Duo!" Heero admonished, looking like he'd rather laugh than
scold.

"What? I was gonna say 'braid', what'd you think I was gonna say?"
Duo said, batting his eyelashes innocently.

"Go get your shower over with. I'd rather just not be late,"
Heero answered, one corner of his mouth twitching as if he were fighting
off a smile.

Grinning, Duo ran up the steps.

***

Upon arrival at Wong's, it quickly became clear that Quatre had indeed
worked his magic once again. Not only did Wufei drop the subject of why
Duo had not informed them exactly where Heero was, no one mentioned
anything to do with why Heero was now on L2. Everyone simply enjoyed the
excellent food and good company. The only sour note had come when, in the
midst of the mutual catching-up session, Quatre had innocently inquired
as to where Heero was working now. Silently swearing at the clunker from
the usually much more socially adept Quatre, Duo turned the question into
a joke, grinning and slapping Heero on the back while he remarked, "Oh,
he's working for me right now - you guys all know what a slob I was
during the war, just imagine what I'm like now that I've got a whole house
to mess up!" Sobering slightly, he added, "We've been looking
around a bit, but nothing too serious just yet. Heero kinda needs to get
a feel for L2 first, see whether he likes it here or not. No point in him
finding his dream job just to decide he hates sharing a place with me and
wants to move, is there, buddy?" Giving Heero a conspiratorial wink
and a grin, Duo then redirected the conversation with a teasing query as
to just why it was easier to contact Trowa through Quatre than through Catherine
lately, resulting in flushed confusion from both parties in question and
a surprised exclamation from Wufei who apparently had not yet noticed that
particular detail.

The rest of the dinner passed without any more potential conversation-stoppers
coming up, but as they all walked back to the house, Wufei commented in
a neutral tone, "I'll give you till the end of the week, Yuy, but if
either you or Maxwell haven't let Relena know where you are by then, I will
tell her myself."

"Damn it, Wu, he's not ready to deal with her yet! Hell,
I don't know if I'm ready to deal with her. Yeah, she's my friend
too, but Heero's my best friend, and she really did a number on him.
And that job question didn't help matters either, Quat! What the hell
were you thinking?!" Duo exclaimed in a furious but quiet voice.

"Duo, he seemed to be doing so well, I just never even considered..."
Quatre attempted to explain.

Duo cut him off with a sharp motion of his hand, "Never mind, it's
too late now." Turning to Wufei, he said, "Don't worry about
Relena, if Heero doesn't want to take care of it, I will. Though she better
not come running up here to try and apologize in person, 'cause he is not
ready to hear it yet. And even if he hears her out, he is definitely
not gonna do the whole 'forgive and forget' thing."

Throwing an anxious glance towards the house - he really did need to
get in there and see how Heero was doing - Duo told the others, "Look
guys, I'm sure you had the best of intentions in coming, and dinner wasn't
exactly an unmitigated disaster so I'm not entirely sorry you came. BUT
- and this is a big 'but' - you were wrong to show up without checking first.
So, goodbye, have a safe trip home, and call first next time." Giving
a quick hug to each startled ex-pilot, Duo turned and dashed into the house
without even looking back.